6 Reasons You’ll Want to Play Sunset Overdrive

It’s time to get excited about Insomniac Games' latest shooter.

First announced last year during Microsoft’s press conference, Sunset Overdrive turned quite a few heads with its debut trailer. It was surprising to learn that Insomniac Games, a studio usually loyal to Sony, was handling development of this Xbox One exclusive. Everyone immediately asked to see more of it.

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This past week, Insomniac answered with gameplay footage, revealing a world that appears to be a combination of Team Fortress with some Jet Set Radio thrown in for good measure. We included it below for you to check out, but if you need more reasons to get excited for this third-person adventure, read on!

Character Accessibility

Most of Insomniac’s games are accessible, including the Ratchet and Clank titles and the multiplayer shooter, Fuse. With Sunset Overdrive, however, it appears that the sky is the limit for where your player can go.

In addition to running around on the ground to create havoc, your character possesses exceptional parkour abilities, running alongside walls and sliding atop phone cables to get around. For good measure, he can also drop down on said cables so he hangs on with one hand and shoots enemies on the ground with the other.

A Brave, Colorful New World

Insomniac is no stranger to creating imaginative worlds, from the havoc-filled base in Fuse to the gorgeous, nearly endless planets you explored in Ratchet and Clank. For Sunset Overdrive, the team created a daring new environment filled with vibrant colors and explosive detail, as only current-gen hardware can deliver.

Although we’ve only seen bits and pieces of this world thus far, it definitely has promise, and the new areas you open up within it are bound to get filled with plenty of excitement and secrets to uncover. We can’t wait to see how the whole thing unfolds.

Hilarious Respawns

When characters respawn in games, it’s usually a matter of “pop” and you’re back on the battlefield – like in the Call of Duty games. For Sunset Overdrive, however, Insomniac wanted to assure that coming back was an event unto itself.

In the trailer, you can see how your character returns to life in a number of ways, whether it’s stumbling out of a coffin, being warped down by a UFO or our personal favorite, having a couple of those energy drink creeps throw you from a van. These appear to be quite hilarious – and we’ve probably only seen a small portion of what the game has to offer.

Varied Enemies to Kill

Throughout Sunset Overdrive, you’ll face off against a number of neon-colored creeps that may or may not have been generated by a faulty energy drink. However, you won’t just face off against the usual glut of foes.

In addition to smaller soldiers, you’ll deal with a larger tank creature that won’t hesitate to throw some of his smaller brethren at you. For good measure, you’ll also need to contend with a creep that uses some sort of fire hose as a weapon, shooting green goop your way.

More enemies are likely to be revealed in the months ahead, so expect plenty of diversity – not to mention danger.

Pump up the Game with Amps

Amps are essentially power boosters that give your character a slight edge over the competition, even if it’s only for a fleeting moment. These will really come in handy, especially when you’re fighting against larger groups of enemies.

We see a few of these in action in the trailer, including a “grind blast” that hits enemies behind you as you grind past them on a rail and a “tornado whip”, where you can create these projectiles using a simple swing of a bat.

The game will offer a ton of these amps, some of which you’ll need to unlock as you progress. We’ll obviously have the full rundown of what they are – and what they can do for your character – once the game releases.

One thing’s for sure – we can’t wait to cause our own mini nuclear explosion. BOOM!

Guns, Guns, Guns

Finally, in the typical Insomniac style, we’ll see no shortage of guns in Sunset Overdrive. If you’ve played any of the Ratchet and Clank games, you know exactly what this team is capable of.

Case in point – the trailer provides a glimpse at a number of weapons in the game, ranging from the Roman Candle firework cannon to an impressive weapon that shoots out bowling balls at enemies. Throughout Overdrive’s single player campaign, you’ll have access to a gaggle of these weapons and you’ll need them, considering the hundreds upon thousands of enemies. 

More information about the weapons should be available in the months ahead, and of course, we’ll have a guide for those as well.

As you can see, there’s plenty to get excited about in Sunset Overdrive. Be sure to check back for continued coverage on the game, leading into its 2014 release on Xbox One.

We’ll see you there, bowling ball cannon in hand.


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Prima Games Staff
The staff at Prima Games.